"The Blurring of the Line Between Words and Deeds"

"Finally, we get to 'epistemic violence,' the brain-child of postmodern Theorist Michel Foucault, who contended that violence is done by asserting power by creating, maintaining and participating in oppressive discourses. This concept is somewhat similar to discursive violence, and was developed considerably by postcolonial Theorist Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak in the 1980s, who wrote on the ways in which the marginalized are prevented from being able to speak or have their knowledge considered real. This not only upholds a state in which marginalized people are not recognized as 'knowers,' but also furthers the idea that they are unable to speak. (And, one should ask, if one cannot speak to achieve necessary change, what option is left to the silenced?)"

James Lindsay in a 2019 Quillette article explores "How the Left Turned Words Into 'Violence,' and Violence Into 'Justice.'"